Tennessee satanist kills woman, eats corpse

SUMMITVILLE, Tenn., June 10 (UPI) -- A man in Tennessee has been arrested after local police discovered a woman's partially-eaten corpse in his rural home.

37-year-old Gregory Scott Hale is charged with first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse in connection with the death of Lisa Marie Hyder.

"We are very early in the investigation," Assistant District Attorney Marla Holloway told local reporters. "The officers were out late last night into the early hours of the morning gathering information."

According to the arrest affidavit, Hale admitted killing Hyder before beheading her remains and chopping off her hands and feet. Hale then put his victim's remains in plastic buckets, buried Hyder's torso and ate a portion of the corpse. Hale claims he never met the victim prior to the day of her death.

Local NBC affiliate WSMV reports that neighbors say Dale described himself as a devil-worshipper, and he was fired from his job at a slaughterhouse when the owner caught him using animal parts to perform a satanic ritual.

His is being held on $1.5 million bond and will next appear in court June 23.